JERUSALEM—The Israeli military on Saturday said it has arrested a pair of Palestinian assailants who allegedly shot and killed a security guard at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, in what the Israeli military described as an attack by “terrorists.”
The detention followed a manhunt that was launched shortly after the attack late Friday. Israeli soldiers, special forces, and border police took part in the detention and seizure of weapons from the two suspects, who it said were seized in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan.
The security guard was shot outside Ariel, a major settlement in the northern West Bank, late Friday night by a pair of assailants in a car, the army said. It said the guard stood in front of another guard who was with him, saving her life.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed condolences to the family of the security guard. In a statement after the arrest of the suspects, he said “no terrorist can evade us.”
In Gaza, the leader of the territory’s Hamas terrorist group Yehiyeh Sinwar called for stepping up attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank, saying the “real battle arena is there.” In a speech, he saluted the attackers who killed the guard.
Israeli forces on Saturday set up checkpoints and were conducting searches for the attackers in the area, the army said. It said it arrested two purported members of Hamas, but there was no immediate indication that the men were involved in the attack. Hamas praised the killing of the guard but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the shooting.
